Stony Brook Revisited: News and Notes

Liberty sent its 2012 senior class out with one of the biggest wins in program history, as the Flames knocked off No. 6/8 Stony Brook on Senior Day at Williams Stadium.

Included with today's news and notes are radio highlights from the contest courtesy of the Flames Sports Network's radio crew, plus Coach Turner Gill's postgame interview with FSN radio sideline reporter Nick Pierce.

Throughout the season, LibertyFlames.com will run a similar feature online each Sunday, spotlighting the notable accomplishments and numbers from the previous day's gridiron battle.

Stony Brook News & Notes:

Stony Brook Series Notes: • Liberty leads the series, 3-2 • The home team has won each of the five meetings • The Flames have outscored Stony Brook 115-42 in the three games played at Williams Stadium • Liberty and Stony Brook are not currently scheduled to face each other in the future, as Stony Brook will be joining the Colonial Athletics Association in 2013

Versus Ranked Opponents: • Liberty pushed its record to 12-43 all-time against nationally ranked teams • The win marked the first time the Flames have defeated a ranked opponent under first-year head coach Turner Gill • The win marked the highest ranked opponent the Flames have defeated in program history (previous record was a 26-3 win over No. 12 Elon to close out the 2008 season) • The game against No. 6/8 Stony Brook was the Flames fourth matchup of the season against a nationally ranked opponent • This marked the sixth time in program history the Flames have faced four or more nationally ranked teams in the same season (also in 1987, 1991, 1993, 1997 and 1999) • Prior to Saturday's victory over No. 6/8 Stony Brook, the Flames were 0-14 all-time against Top 10 ranked opponents

Attendance Record Notes: • Liberty had 14,419 fans in attendance on Senior Day and Military Appreciation Day • Prior to the game, Liberty announced it was going to give $1 for every fan in attendance at the game to Hurricane Sandy relief efforts, which means Liberty Athletics was able to donate $14,419 dollars to Gleaning for the World to help them transport already gathered supplies to the Northeast • The attendance figure at the Stony Brook game upped Liberty's season attendance total to 97,910, which is the second highest home attendance season total in program history (program record was 98,515 in 2011) • Following the game, Liberty ranks No. 9 in the country in total home attendance (97,910), No. 12 in average home attendance (16,318) and No. 23 in filling stadium capacity (84.99 percent) • The Stony Brook game was the eighth highest attended FCS game in the county last week • The attendance figure for all six of Liberty's 2012 home games finished inside the Top 10 respectively in total home attendance during their specific week in terms of highest attended FCS games in the country

Big South Title and FCS Playoff Picture: • With their victory over Stony Brook, the Flames kept alive their changes of claiming their fifth Big South title in the last six seasons (Liberty's earned titles in 2007, 2008, 2009 and 2010) • The game marked the final regular season contest on Stony Brook's schedule with the Seawolves finishing the year 9-2 overall and 5-1 in Big South play • Both Liberty and Coastal Carolina (defeated Presbyterian College, 65-7, in Clinton) won on Saturday, upping their records in Big South play to 4-1 • If both Liberty (at VMI) and Coastal Carolina (home vs. Charleston Southern) lose on Saturday, Stony Brook would be declared the Big South's outright champion and earn the league's automatic bid to the NCAA FCS Playoffs • If Liberty were to defeat VMI and Coastal Carolina were to lose to Charleston Southern, Liberty and Stony Brook would share the 2012 Big South title and Liberty would receive the conference's automatic bid to the NCAA FCS Playoffs (based upon their head-to-head record against Stony Brook) • If Liberty were to lose to VMI and Coastal Carolina were to defeat Charleston Southern, Stony Brook and Coastal Carolina would share the 2012 Big South title and Stony Brook would receive the conference's automatic bid the NCAA FCS Playoffs (based upon their head-to-head record with Stony Brook defeating Coastal Carolina, 27-21, in Conway, S.C., on Oct. 13) • If both Liberty and Coastal Carolina post victories on Saturday in their regular season finales, Liberty, Stony Brook and Coastal Carolina would share the 2012 Big South title and Coastal Carolina would receive the conference's automatic bid the NCAA FCS Playoffs (BSC's three-way tiebreaker is road conference record – Coastal Carolina would be 3-0 and Stony Brook and Liberty would be 2-1 in road conference games) • Two years ago, Liberty, Stony Brook and Coastal Carolina finished Big South play with identical 5-1 BSC records and Coastal Carolina was awarded the Big South automatic bid to the NCAA FCS Playoffs based upon their BSC's then three-way tiebreaker (fewest points allowed in BSC games)

Offensive Notes from Stony Brook game: • Liberty finished the game with a season-low 259 total offensive yards • Liberty's previous season low prior to the Stony Brook game was 265 total offensive yards at Coastal Carolina • Following the game, Liberty ranks No. 39 in the country in total offense (averaging 406.10 total offensive yards per game) • Liberty has been held below 300 yards twice in 2012 (Coastal Carolina – 265; Stony Brook – 259) • Liberty scored only 14 of its 28 points in the game on offense • The 14 offensive points the Flames scored against Stony Brook came during a 3:09 span in the second quarter • The Flames finished the game with a season-low 10 first downs • Liberty came into the game averaging 21.44 first downs per game and ranked No. 35 in the country in first down offense • Following the game, Liberty is now averaging 20.30 first downs per game and the Flames rank No. 48 in the country in first down offense • The last time the Flames finished with 10 or fewer first downs in a game was in a 20-13 win on the road at Charleston Southern in 2009 • The Flames finished the Stony Brook game with 31 rushing attempts for 62 yards • The rushing total marked the fourth time this season the Flames have been held to less than 100 team rushing yards in a game (Wake Forest – 91, Montana – 21, Coastal Carolina – 86 and Stony Brook – 62) • Liberty did have one rushing touchdown (a four-yard quarterback keeper by Brian Hudson), giving Liberty a rushing touchdown in 7-out-of-10 games in 2012 • Liberty finished the Stony Brook game with 197 passing yards, the team's highest passing total in the last three games (Concord – 173 yards, Coastal Carolina – 179 yards, Charleston Southern – 108 yards) • For the fourth time this season, the Flames finished with less than 20 completions in a game as Liberty was 14-of-24 for 197 yards against Stony Brook • For the second game in a row and the fourth time this year, Liberty finished a game without an interception • Following the game, the Flames currently rank No. 30 in the country in passing efficiency (139.18) • Liberty ranks No. 11 in the country in team completion percentage, having completed 66.34 percent of its passing attempts in 2012 (205-of-309) • Liberty finished the game converting on 4-of-15 third-down plays (26.67 percent) • The four third-down conversions tied a season low for Liberty (also had four third-down conversions against Gardner-Webb) • Liberty currently ranks No. 33 in the country in third-down conversion efficiency (43.06 percent/62-of-144) • For the third time this season, the Flames did not attempt to convert on a fourth-down play • Liberty is 4-of-11 on fourth-down plays and ranks No. 103 (out of 121 FCS programs) in fourth-down conversion efficiency (36.36 percent) • For the first time in seven games, the Flames lost the time of possession battle, with Stony Brook edging the Flames by nearly five minutes of possession (27:33 to 32:27/-4:54) • The Flames now rank No. 7 in the country in average time of possession (33:21) • For the second-straight game, the Flames finished a contest without committing a turnover • The Flames committed their third fewest penalties on the year against Stony Brook, finishing the game with five penalties for 45 penalty yards (also had five penalties for 38 yards against Presbyterian College) • Liberty only entered the red zone once against Stony Brook, but the Flames finished the game with a rushing touchdown on that drive • On the season, Liberty ranks No. 23 in the country in red zone efficiency, scoring .88 percent of the times they cross their opponent's 20-yard line (23-of-26) • Of the 23 scoring drives that have penetrated the red zone, Liberty has 11 rushing touchdowns, eight passing touchdowns and four field goals

Defensive Notes from Stony Brook game: • The Flames held Stony Brook to a season-low 14 points scored (previous low was 17 points against Syracuse) • Stony Brook did finish the game with 383 total offensive yards, which is the second-highest total by a Flames opponent in 2012 (highest was 481 yards by Gardner-Webb) • Following the game, Liberty now ranks No. 20 in the country in total defense (allowing 317.90 total offensive yards per game) • Stony Brook finished the game with 15 first downs, including 10 via passing plays • Stony Brook became the third team in 2012 to finish a game against Liberty with 10 or more passing first downs • Following the game, Liberty ranks No. 3 nationally in first downs allowed (average of 14.1 per game) • Liberty limited Stony Brook to four first downs via rushing plays • Liberty has now held four opponents in 2012 to four or fewer rushing first downs in a game • On the season, Liberty's opponents are averaging 6.2 rushing first downs per game, 7.3 passing first downs per game and 0.6 first downs via penalties • Stony Brook finished the game with 156 rushing yards • The figure was the fourth most team rushing yards the Flames have allowed in 2012 • However, the figure was well below Stony Brook's average, as the Seawolves came into the game ranks No. 5 in the country in rushing offense (304.0 average rushing yards per game) • Stony Brook finished the game with 227 passing yards, which was the second highest single-game total by a Flames opponent in 2012 (highest was 383 by Gardner-Webb) • Prior to the Stony Brook game, only two opponents in 2012 have thrown for 200 or more yards in a game (Gardner-Webb – 383; Presbyterian College – 201) • Following the game, Liberty now ranks No. 27 in the country in passing defense (181.8 average passing yards allowed per game) • Liberty recorded four interceptions in the game, picking off Stony Brook's Kyle Essington four times after the senior came into the game ranked No. 1 in the country in passing efficiency and with only four interceptions thrown during his first 10 games of the year • The Flames came into the game with only two interceptions in their first nine games of the year • The Flames finished the game with a season-high five turnovers forced (four interceptions and one forced fumble) • Liberty came into the game with five turnovers on the year and ranked No. 109 out of 121 FCS programs in the country in turnover margin (-1.00) • Following the game, Liberty now ranks No. 85 in the country in turnover margin at -.40 • Liberty scored half of its 28 points on turnovers, recording an interception return for a touchdown (21 yards by Nick Sigmon) and a fumble return for a touchdown (fumble forced by Sigmon and returned 44 yards by Jacob Hagen) • The last time the Flames had two defensive touchdowns scored in a game was against Charleston Southern, last year, where the Flames returned two interceptions for touchdowns (100 yard return by KaJuan Lee and a 22 yard return by Scott Hyland) • Liberty held Stony Brook to converting on only 5-of-17 third-down plays • Liberty has now held 8-of-10 opponents in 2012 to five or fewer third-down conversions in a game (Wake Forest was 7-of-18 and Coastal Carolina was 9-of-16) • Following the game, Liberty ranks No. 15 in the country in third-down conversion efficiency (30.94 percent/43-of-139) • Stony Brook did manage to convert on 2-of-3 fourth-down plays against the Flames • Both fourth-down conversions came on the same scoring drive, including a fourth-and-one play that saw Miguel Maysonet score his second rushing touchdown from 13 yards out • Liberty's opponents are now 9-of-18 on fourth-down plays against the Flames in 2012 • Stony Brook committed a Flames' opponent season-high 11 penalties for 73 yards (previous high was eight penalties by Norfolk State and Coastal Carolina and 60 yards by Norfolk State) • Four of Stony Brook's penalties were defensive offsides calls, to go along with three holding penalties • After finishing the previous two games without a sack, the Flames finished the game against Stony Brook with two sacks • The Flames have now recorded 13 sacks in 10 games • The Flames allowed Stony Brook to score on both of their drives that crossed Liberty's 20-yard line, with both resulting in touchdowns • On the year, Liberty ranks No. 101 (out of 121 FCS programs) in red zone defense • Liberty's opponents have scored on 19-of-22 drives that have crossed the 20-yard line (.86 percent) • Of those 19 scoring drives, 16 have been by rushing touchdowns and three by passing touchdowns (no field goals)

Special Teams Notes from Stony Brook game: • The Flames finished the game with their best punting average of the season, averaging 44.3 yards per punt against Stony Brook • Liberty also had to punt the ball a season-high 10 times (previous high was seven times against Wake Forest) • Liberty has now averaged 40 or more yards per punt in 6-of-10 games in 2012 • Liberty finished the game with only one special teams return, an 11-yard kickoff return • Despite the lower total, Liberty still ranks No. 30 in the country in kickoff return average (22.13 yards per return) • Stony Brook finished the game with two kickoff returns for 37 yards (18.5 average) • Following the game, Liberty ranks No. 3 in the country in kickoff return yardage defense (allowing 14.04 yards per kickoff return) • Liberty missed the only field goal attempt of the game, a 51-yarder by John Lunsford that missed wide right during the fourth quarter